Honeymoon over, outlook worse for French president

"Accusing him of standing by passively in the face of carnage in Syria, the main opposition UMP party has portrayed Hollande as a hopeless ditherer, incapable of the kind of bold action which saw his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, lead Western intervention in Libya last year."

Well, their was an oil supply in jeopardy for France, plus a credible and semi-organized Libyan opposition in the wings so I guess the UMP are just playing politics - especially in light of the inaction of the rest of international community,

That said, the middle class that voted for this weak leftist are enfin waking up to the fact that they will be further footing the bill for his "tax and spend" socialist policies in the midst of a global recession.

Come September the nuts on the radical left that gave their vote (and victory) to Hollande through partisan solidarity at the ballot earlier this year, will be splitting ranks and striking, government "workers" hitting the streets simply because they can.

“The French are still struggling to understand where Francois Hollande and his team are really leading them,” Liberation said in an editorial."

They were warned. They chose. The question is simply how much damage can Hollande do whilst at the wheel?

Classic European voters's mentality (e.g. Spain, France, Italy, Greece...) of quick fix and lacking thereof critical analysis for the long term prospect of nation. The stagnation of most European nations are not happening overnight, rather a continue over spending problem for generations. This cancer is spreading. Liberal socialism has no answer, just demanding more and more. There is no short cut and do not count on your friendly China, Russia come to rescue.

Classic European voters's mentality

Yeah, right. European voters in Spain, France, Italy and Greece are all the same. Surprised they bother to have elections seeing has they all think the same way anyway. Just like all Americans are obese, gun-toting loudmouths. Every single one of them.

Madverts -

That said, the middle class that voted for this weak leftist are enfin waking up to the fact that they will be further footing the bill for his "tax and spend" socialist policies in the midst of a global recession.

Come September the nuts on the radical left that gave their vote (and victory) to Hollande through partisan solidarity at the ballot earlier this year, will be splitting ranks and striking, government "workers" hitting the streets simply because they can.

I couldn't agree more! Well said.

Posts like the two above make me want to hug myself with glee for being born into socialist Europe, and not rabid, business~loving America. Vive la difference!

Posts like the two above make me want to hug myself with glee for being born into socialist Europe, and not rabid, business~loving America. Vive la difference!

It took me 20 min. to stop laughing, I couldn't write, now that I am calm. I will say this, you can be proud to be a socialist all you want, but Socialism as we know it has great limitations and one of them being, what do you do when you run out of other people's money? What will you do? France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy and now the US are slowly running out of money, what will you do, the large entitlement, big government apparatus is coming to an end faster than you think and what will you do? Where and from whom will you borrow from? So enjoy your margarita while you can, but the money train is rapidly heading for a brick wall.

@bass

Compare Europe with the US. Both are going to hell in handcart, but at least our infant mortality rate, our obesity rate and our murder rate are those of civilised human beings. More or less.

Both the US and Europe have been living beyond their means for years, but at least France has something to show for the debt unlike the US - we have a first class healthcare system available to everyone and a unemployment safety net that helps the motivated in need a generous hand-up to get back to work.

I'm the first to criticise the chronic abuse of much of the system here which is the cancer, and I think the only way to get things back on track is by a radical shake-up that neither Sarkozy and certainly not Hollande have the stones for.

To put it simply, France cannot keep on giving the most to those who produce nothing, and taxing those more that do work to pay for it for much longer. These people need to be put to work, plain and simple.

"The best way to help the poor is to make them uncomfortable in their poverty" - Thomas Jefferson

Unfortunately in France, which will worsen under the current fool now in office, does exactly the opposite.

@luca

Compare Europe with the US. Both are going to hell in handcart, but at least our infant mortality rate, our obesity rate and our murder rate are those of civilised human beings. More or less.

Our mortality is high because of many different factors, one is our population ratio, the other is, statistically we have more illegals in our country, therefore it is not always accurate in getting info on infant mortalities at times. Some women do not seek out prenatal care. But it is most definitely not because of our healthcare system being inadequate.

As for the obesity rate is the highest in the US, but their are many European nations closing the gap and from what it seems, we are slowly loing our first place position sooner rather than later.

And the crime rate is NOT that much different. UK is 2nd, Ger.3rd, Fra. 4th, Rus. 5th, Jap 6th As far as firearms, sorry, we were number 4 in the world. Thailand ranked number 3. Also, murder from firearms in the US is going down. Besides, if you think all Americans are walking around with guns killing people, then you have been watching to many Clint Eastwood movies.

Not tutting my horn, but just telling you, you are talking to someone that lived and was raised in Europe, so I know first hand about the plight of Europe and the Europeans. And as for me, I'll stick with the US, personally speaking. Oh, and we are a civilized nation, because at least our politicians don't slap or strangle each other on the floor compared to other countries.

@Madverts

I totally agree.

@bass

In true socialism, there's no such thing as "other people's money", it's everybody's money.

I suspect we'll never agree, and it's down to genes. Some people are right-wing and capitalist, while others are left-wing and socialist. We're born like that, and intelligence or perception are irrelevant.

If anything this is the end of free market capitalism.

@Thomas

I think you are right, say hello to the new USSA

@luca

In true socialism, there's no such thing as "other people's money", it's everybody's money.

That statement right there is what I am talking about! "It's everybody's money?" Well, then the deceased Steve Jobs owes me a huge check! But wait, I would have to split that with my mom and my Dentist, after all he extracted my wisdom tooth and I have to give some cash to the milk farm and farmers for providing me with my lovely skim milk and gotta give Quaker some cash for their oatmeal and the farmer that grew the oates.... I mean, it's everybody's money and like Obama said, "you didn't build that" There is NO "I" in team!

No that was not a support for unregulated free market capitalism... since that has failed during the great depression and it caused the 2008 market crash.

@bass

Socialism would be wonderful, given the chance to flourish. Don't know where you stand on religion, but any form of worship has the same message. Can't understand why capitalists/libertarians can't utilise their energy and talent for the good of everyone, instead of for themselves exclusively.

"Socialism would be wonderful, given the chance to flourish"

It's a pipe dream Luca. Like communism that the French have also clung to for decades.

Properly regulated capitalism is the only way forward, with a careful eye on monopolies.

Speaking of monopolies, that is the most hypocritical thing about France - on the surface it's all about socialism, but the country is really run by a tiny elite like most Western democracies that hoard the wealth for themselves and their cronies and put as many barriers up against success as possible for people trying to move up.

Hollande is a champagne socialist that hides his millions from the tax man. Worse is the radical lefts' darling Melenchon, who is another "leftist" sat on millions hiding his fortune through an intricate array of systems available to fat cats.